Nigeria, where only 40 million of its 160 million people have access to public power supply, has set up a panel to investigate the incessant power system collapse experienced in the country in the past five months.
According to Tuesday’s local media reports, Minister of Power Chinedu Nebo set up the panel in the capital city of Abuja on Monday to investigate the 15 power system collapses in the country since January.
Tagged the ”Technical Investigative Panel on System Collapse,” the 13-member committee was given two weeks to, among others, determine the immediate and remote causes of system collapses and review all the collapses that had occurred from January to date.
“The high rate of system collapses in recent time, which has given rise to more than 15 collapses in the last five months, calls for a critical look.
“The technical investigative panel is, therefore, being constituted to investigate the causes of these collapses and proffer solutions aimed at forestalling future occurrences,” the minister said.
PANA reports that the epileptic power supply in Africa’s most populous nation has worsened in recent times, and the minister has blamed the situation on systems failure and sabotage.
Most Nigerians depend on electricity generators for power supply to their homes and businesses, as the country’s power monopoly has failed woefully to meet public demand.
Nigeria generates just about 4,000 mega watts of electricity, which is considered highly inadequate to meet the demands of its population. By contrast, South Africa with about one third of Nigeria’s population generates about 40,000MW.
Nigeria has resorted to privatisation, which is ongoing, to raise power generation and improve transmission.